On 22 June 2012, Almunia, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy gave a speech on competition policy in times of restructuring. He considered the challenges that the EU has been facing over the past weeks and months and how these challenges are shaped by the urgent need for economic restructuring and growth in Europe, the rapid globalisation of economic activity, and the fast evolving technological environment.

EIOPA has published the outcome of its November 2011 consultation on draft Guidelines for Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA). ORSA is an internal risk management tool aimed at capturing and dealing with all risks that might impact on a (re)insurance company’s solvency. ORSA processes need to be proportionate and tailored to fit the company’s structure and systems. This report by EIOPA focuses on its expectations about what ORSA should achieve rather than on how it should achieve it.

Following some delay, on June 6, 2012 the European Commission finally published its Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms (so-called Crisis Management Directive¹ or CMD), which — once adopted — will apply to the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), but may also have relevance for those three contracting states of the Treaty on the European Economic Area (EEA), which are not member states of the EU.

Europe has struggled mightily during the last several years to triage a long series of critical blows to the economies of the 27 countries that comprise the European Union as well as the collective viability of eurozone economies. Here we provide a snapshot of some recent developments relating to insolvency and restructuring in the EU.

On Friday 21 October 2011, the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York handed down an important decision, confirming that foreign (groups of) companies can use Chapter 11 without any significant threshold as to their nexus with the United States. This may be good news for corporates that seek to use Chapter 11 for restructuring their business or capital structure.

It is now clear that even very limited property in the U.S. is sufficient to qualify for a reorganisation through Chapter 11.

You are busy people.  There is too much information. To try to help you identify the issues that are most important to you, we present a round-up of ten of the most significant cases and events in 2011, including Supreme Court decisions on contractual interpretation, the removal of expert witness immunity and the status of arbitrators, together with the coming into force of the Bribery Act 2010 and the new ICC Rules.

We are delighted to present the CMS guide to Restructuring, Insolvency and Distressed Debt Trading.

ICMA’s European Repo Council has responded to the Commission's consultation on CSDs. Its main concerns focus on:

In the European Union, Stat e interventions in the market in the form of subsidies or other economic advantages are generally prohibited, but companies can receive aid from Member States if the aid is approved by the European Commission.

The global crisis and the rights of foreign creditors of Sovereign States

The global financial crisis has been well documented in the press, with one recent headline in The Times reading “Like Iceland, Ireland can refuse to pay up”. Claims that States face bankruptcy not unnaturally raise the alarm bells for the financial markets. Can States be sued if they default in payment? RPC recently enforced a claim against assets of an EU State, as discussed below...

Bankrupt States: A misnomer